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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29227263">An Escape</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sylveparker/pseuds/sylveparker'>sylveparker</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Anakin/Padme - Fandom, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, M/F, Star Wars - Freeform, Star Wars AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:28:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,553</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29227263</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sylveparker/pseuds/sylveparker</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Padme Amidala survived childbirth, and she is determined to get her children and herself back to Anakin at all costs. Will she still want to be with the newly turned Darth Vader, or will she regret ever leaving Obi-Wan's side?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anakin/Padme, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Darth Vader, Padmé Amidala/Obi-Wan Kenobi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>25</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Escape</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>POV: Padme Amidala </p><p>I walk down the chrome hallway again, trying to look as calm as possible.<br/>
The distance from the medbay to the elevator is thirty-seven steps.<br/>
I estimate that it’ll take less than thirty seconds to get from this floor to the hangar, and hopefully less than a minute to locate my ship once I’m there—<br/>
“Padme?” A gentle voice from behind me calls.<br/>
I jump, my heart skipping a beat.<br/>
“Obi-Wan.” I breathe, turning around to face him.<br/>
He smiles tightly as he steps closer.<br/>
“Are you alright?” He asks.<br/>
I return a tight-lipped smile, nodding once.<br/>
“Yes.” I answer, stepping towards him. “Just going for my walk.”<br/>
I turn to walk back towards my room in the medbay, and Obi-Wan follows.<br/>
“How are you feeling?” He asks as we walk.<br/>
I push down my guilt.<br/>
“I’m alright.” I reply, tightening my robe around my body. “Healing nicely.”<br/>
He nods, looking at me out of the corner of his eye.<br/>
“Good.” He answers. “And how are you—with everything else?”<br/>
My guilt is replaced by burning anger.<br/>
“He didn’t make it Padme, he’s gone.”<br/>
If only he knew.<br/>
I just purse my lips, shaking my head as I look down at the chrome floor.<br/>
He rests a hand on my shoulder, and I fight the urge to shake it off.<br/>
Just a few hours more.<br/>
I turn, walking back into the medbay.<br/>
The two small cradles sit side by side in the room, with my two sleeping children inside.<br/>
I sit on the bench by the window, watching the sky as it turns vibrantly orange and sinks into a deep blue.<br/>
The communicator pings once, and I jump as it pierces the silence.<br/>
I click it once, leaning closely.<br/>
“Are you alone?” The low voice on the other line asks.<br/>
The Emperor.<br/>
“Yes.” I whisper.<br/>
“Good.” He replies.<br/>
“Is he okay?” I ask, my voice threatening to break.<br/>
“Yes.” He replies. “My young apprentice will make it, but just barely.”<br/>
I nod, swallowing hard.<br/>
“I’m sending the coordinates now.” He continues. “Do not bring company, or you will all suffer.”<br/>
The commlink shuts off.<br/>
Hot tears slip down my cheeks.<br/>
Leia stirs in her cradle, and I pick her up quickly, shushing her before she has the chance to wake Luke.<br/>
“Shh.” I whisper. “We will be with your father soon.”<br/>
She falls back into a peaceful sleep, and I set her down gently.<br/>
I walk quietly to the door, peeking into the hallway.<br/>
No one’s there, everything is quiet.<br/>
Quickly, I pack my few belongings into a bag.<br/>
I slip into black robes, now fitting more loosely against my body without the bulge of my stomach.<br/>
My fingers secure my pendant onto my neck, letting it settle on my chest.<br/>
It’s time.<br/>
I put my bag onto my back as I step between the cradles.<br/>
Carefully, I pick Luke up, tucking him into the tight wrap on my robe against my chest.<br/>
I turn to Leia, tucking her the same way onto the opposite side.<br/>
Luckily, they don’t stir.<br/>
I take a deep breath, pulling the hood of my robe over my hair as I turn and walk quickly through the door.<br/>
Thirty-seven steps.<br/>
I walk faster.<br/>
Luke stirs, whimpering softly.<br/>
Please, I beg him silently, twelve steps more.<br/>
His small fist raises as he stretches, whining again as I press the button to the elevator.<br/>
It opens painfully slowly, and I step inside, slamming my finger onto the button for the hangar.<br/>
Luke looks up at me with wide blue eyes.<br/>
Anakin’s eyes.<br/>
The elevator doors open, and I run towards my ship.<br/>
The ramp opens as I approach, and I board quickly.<br/>
I pull out the communicator, typing in the coordinates with shaking fingers.<br/>
As soon as I leave the hangar, they’ll know I’m gone.<br/>
I take a deep breath as I start the course, sending the engine roaring to life.<br/>
The droids at the end of the hangar open the shield, letting me out as the ship’s autopilot takes off towards the mystery location.<br/>
I look out the window as the Jedi temple disappears from view, tears welling in my eyes again.<br/>
I will never see Obi-Wan Kenobi again.<br/>
My bodyguard since I was ten years old, my oldest confidant.<br/>
The one who tried to kill my husband.<br/>
I wipe my tears with the back of my hand as I sit back, pulling the children from my robes to let them stretch as we fly.<br/>
Hours pass before we make the decent onto the fiery planet of Mustafar.<br/>
I carefully wrap the babies back in my robes, pulling the cloak over my hair again as the ship lands on rocky terrain.<br/>
The hot air flushes against my face as I step from the ship, and I pull my robes tighter over the children.<br/>
A storm trooper meets me at the end of the ramp.<br/>
“Follow me.” He says simply, walking towards a large black building.<br/>
I follow in silence.<br/>
He leads me down a maze of dark corridors, and as we near the center I begin to hear the screams.<br/>
Screams of pain and agony.<br/>
Anakin’s screams.<br/>
“What are they doing to him?” I shout at the back of the trooper’s helmet.<br/>
He doesn’t turn around.<br/>
I grab his shoulder, spinning him towards me.<br/>
“Answer me!” I shout.<br/>
He points his gun at me, and I circle my arms around the children tightly, staggering backwards.<br/>
“Enough.” A voice says from behind him.<br/>
He nods, dropping his weapon and stepping away.<br/>
Senator Palpatine walks towards me.<br/>
The Emperor.<br/>
“Padme.” He says, extending his arms as he grins with his disfigured face.<br/>
I hesitantly reach my arms out, greeting him diplomatically with a kiss in the air near each side of his face.<br/>
“May I?” He asks, gesturing towards my chest.<br/>
I swallow hard, nodding as I pull the cloth back slightly, exposing the sleeping faces of my innocent children.<br/>
He looks back and forth between them once with his wide, yellow eyes before looking back at me.<br/>
“Congratulations.” He says simply.<br/>
I nod.<br/>
Another scream pierces the silence.<br/>
“What are they doing to him?” I gasp.<br/>
He scowls.<br/>
“Obi-Wan almost killed him.” He replies, turning and beckoning for me to follow him. “It’s taken a lot of…reconstruction to keep young Skywalker alive.”<br/>
I nod again, tears stinging behind my eyes.<br/>
We get to the end of a hallway, stopping in front of a large white door.<br/>
“I must warn you, Mrs. Amidala,” he says, typing a number into the keypad, “this will be shocking.”<br/>
I brace myself as we step into the room.<br/>
Dozens of machines beep as droids move around a table in the center of the room.<br/>
I rush to the table, pushing past the crowd of robots.<br/>
My breath catches in my throat as I look down at the mass of burnt flesh.<br/>
Pink and red tissue is exposed across his body, or what’s left of it.<br/>
Both legs have been cut off at the knee, and his only remaining arm is the robotic one from years ago.<br/>
His face is almost unrecognizable, all his hair has been burned away.<br/>
The remnants of burnt clothing and flesh are stuck in the tissue as a robotic arm pulls it from the raw area, causing him to cry out again in pain.<br/>
His loud cry causes the babies to jump, waking them from sleep and causing them to cry.<br/>
The sound makes him turn his head towards me, his eyes snapping open.<br/>
The same blue eyes that he’s always had.<br/>
“Padme.” He chokes out.<br/>
I smile, a sob escaping my lips at the same time.<br/>
The robotic arm reaches down towards a patch of fabric on his thigh.<br/>
“Leave us.” The Emperor says, and the robot freezes and retreats before it has the chance to hurt Anakin again.<br/>
“Ani, are you alright?” I ask, my hands hovering over his body, unsure if there is anywhere that is safe to touch.<br/>
His robotic arm raises, and he groans in agony.<br/>
One metallic finger hooks around the edge of my robe, pulling the fabric back and exposing Luke’s face.<br/>
“A boy?” He asks, his voice hardly more than raspy breath. “Luke?”<br/>
I nod, smiling softly as I pull aside the opposite side to show him Leia’s face as well.<br/>
“And a girl.” I whisper, smiling at his shock and surprise of twins, the same expression I held when I found out just days before.<br/>
“Leia.” He breathes.<br/>
A new wave of tears spills down my cheeks, a welcome batch this time.<br/>
He grunts again, reaching up as a cold, metallic finger wipes a tear from my face.<br/>
“You came for me.” He says, his breathing labored.<br/>
I cover his hand with mine, hoping to warm the metal, even if he can’t feel it.<br/>
“Of course I did.” I whisper.<br/>
The beep on the machine, accelerates.<br/>
“Padme, we have to complete the transformation before we lose him.” The Emperor says in a low voice from behind me.<br/>
I nod.<br/>
“Ani, I’ll be here when you’re done.” I tell him, kissing the metal palm of his hand gently. “Don’t you dare leave me here alone.”<br/>
He laughs lowly, more of a wheeze.<br/>
“I would never.” He chokes, dropping his hand with a groan as it hits the table.<br/>
I’m quickly ushered out of the room into a makeshift waiting room.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. A New Beginning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Days pass in agony.<br/>Anakin’s cries can be heard throughout the chambers long into the night for the first couple days, but the suffocating silence that follows is almost worse.<br/>I stay in the room with the children, and nurse droid comes in occasionally to bring meals and help with the babies from time to time. <br/>Both Luke and Leia have finally fallen asleep, and I set each gently on the bed before walking over to the small square window on the far wall. <br/>I watch the river of fire as it tears wildly through the blackened rocks, destroying and burning anything that dares to enter its path.<br/>I trace my fingers gently against my skin, imagining what it might feel like to be enveloped in the flames.<br/>Imagining what it might feel like to have my skin pulled from the tissue—<br/>A soft knock at the door startles me, it’s different from the metallic knock of the nurse droid.<br/>The Emperor?<br/>I walk to the door, pressing the keypad to open it.<br/>A massive figure dressed in black stands before me.<br/>It’s chest rises and falls in tempo, breathing like a living thing, but the metallic sound that comes with every breath and the panel of lights flashing against it’s chest is more robotic.<br/>I reach for the panel again, wanting to shut the door and hide, but the figure reaches out a large hand with a black glove towards me.<br/>“Wait.” It says softly.<br/>The voice is low and robotic, but familiar.<br/>I take a step closer, looking up into the eyes of the helmet.<br/>Blue eyes peer back through the tinted lenses.<br/>“Ani.” I breathe.<br/>He nods, reaching his large hand out further to cup my cheek gently.<br/>I step closer still, resting my hands as lightly as I can against his chest.<br/>“Are you alright?” He asks, his fingers tracing along my cheekbone.<br/>I nod, looking up at him.<br/>“What did they do to you?” I ask, my eyes welling with tears. <br/>A robotic sigh echoes through his mask.<br/>“It was necessary.” He says, his fingers trailing through my hair. “It was the suit or death.”<br/>I nod again, taking in his new form.<br/>“But you’re okay?” I ask.<br/>He nods.<br/>“I can’t see your face.” I murmur, my hand tracing the hard black metal of his new helmet.<br/>A sharp cry behind me breaks us apart.<br/>He peers over my head, looking towards the sound. <br/>“It’s Leia.” I tell him, smiling. “Do you want to meet them, officially?”<br/>His metallic breathing accelerates.<br/>“Padme I don’t know—”<br/>I take his hand gently and lead him into the room behind me.<br/>“Sit.” I say, pulling him towards the small bench near the window.<br/>He does, and I walk over to where Leia squirms on the bed, crying loudly and beginning to wake Luke in the process.<br/>I pick her up, turning and walking back towards Anakin.<br/>Quickly, I set her into his arms before he has the chance to protest.<br/>She squirms against him for a second more before snuggling tightly against the crook of his arm and falling back to sleep.<br/>I turn back to the bed, picking up Luke and bringing him to Anakin too.<br/>He looks back and forth between Leia and Luke, his robotic breathing jagged and labored through the mask.<br/>“What are you thinking?” I ask, stepping closer.<br/>He reaches one arm out, inviting me to sit across from Leia on his leg.<br/>I do, sitting on his thigh as his arm circles around me and Luke.<br/>“This truly is the happiest day of my life.” He says softly. “I’m smiling.”<br/>I smile up at him. <br/>We sit for hours with the children until they eventually have to go down for the night.<br/>I lay on the bed beside Anakin, my head resting on his shoulder.<br/>“What are you thinking?” He asks, his hand running through my hair.<br/>I roll onto my front, looking at his mask.<br/>“Does this have to stay on forever?” I ask quietly, tracing the cold metal with my fingertips.<br/>He sits up slightly.<br/>“If you come with me I can answer that question.” He replies.<br/>I nod, getting up and calling the nurse droid into the room.<br/>Anakin leads me down the maze of hallways to a silver door at the far end of a hall.<br/>“The room is going to feel a bit odd.” He says, flipping switches as the doors close.<br/>The pressure in the room seems to shift, becoming thicker and more humid as a whirring sound fills the room.<br/>He turns away from me, reaching up and removing various parts of his helmet.<br/>“Don’t be afraid.” He says softly before pulling the last of the pieces apart.<br/>He faces me, his disfigured face startling me slightly. <br/>“The room is pressurized; the atmosphere is filled with the right humidity and chemicals.” He says, his voice hardly more than a whisper as he takes a measured step towards me. “I can breathe in here. My skin is preserved here.”<br/>I take a step towards him, startling him now.<br/>“I’m not afraid of you Anakin.” I whisper.<br/>His eyebrows furrow.<br/>“You aren’t?” He asks, his hands circling hesitantly around my waist.<br/>I look into his blue eyes, following the shape of his nose and cheek bones with my eyes, down to the bow of his lips.<br/>He is scared and deformed, but it’s Anakin.<br/>My Ani, the same nine-year-old boy from Tatooine, the same young Jedi I married on the shores of Naboo.<br/>I press up onto my toes, pressing a gentle kiss against his lips.<br/>“I’m not.” I whisper.<br/>He smiles, leaning down to gently kiss me again.<br/>“I love you, my angel.” He whispers, sending my heart speeding at his tender use of my oldest nickname. <br/>“I love you Anakin.” I whisper back.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading, leave a comment! :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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